COOL STUFF IN THE NEWS

From the moment you step through its door, the newly opened Shakespeare & Co. just feels like a special place.

For one thing, you’re no longer navigating a raucous, retail-filled Walnut Street. Instead, you’re standing on the wooden floor of a little sanctuary of sorts: Here, fresh coffee brews, thousands of books line the walls, and some kind of odd, futuristic machine spits out (almost) any publication you can think of. Every few minutes, the relatively quiet space buzzes with the whirring of an old-fashioned flipboard — you know, sort of like the one in 30th Street Station.

OCT 12

Oat Foundry was named the 6th fastest growing business among Philadelphia’s top 100 movers and shakers!

The Philadelphia100® has been the hallmark of entrepreneurial achievement in the region since 1988. Cofounded by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum of Greater Philadelphia to celebrate the success of both its CEO members and local CEOs, the Philadelphia100® awards identifies and honors the 100 fastest growing, privately held entrepreneurial companies in the Greater Philadelphia Region. What started as an idea to bring recognition to our region has emerged as a new standard – a standard of excellence. The Philadelphia100® is a merit-based program.

Only companies that are among the fastest growing, privately-held companies are awarded the Philadelphia100® designation. The integrity of the process and the resulting list makes the Philadelphia100® one of the most sought after awards in the region. The Philadelphia100® winners are celebrated at an awards program among 500 leaders and acknowledged in a special section of the Philadelphia Inquirer reaching nearly 1 million readers.

SEPT 20

By year’s end, engineering design company Oat Foundry will leave its Bensalem hub and settle into a new 5,100-square-feet hub in Bridesburg.

The new River Wards space, located inside the Frankford Arsenal redevelopment is about four times the size of the company’s current location. Why the growth spurt? Oat Foundry’s flashy split-flap signs are in hot demand, CEO Mark Kuhn said, and they’re in need of more space to deliver on international orders.

“We’re so excited,” said Kuhn, a Drexel University grad, who projects the company’s headcount will grow from its current standing of 20 (in a mix of full-timers, part-timers and Drexel co-ops) to about 25 throughout 2019.

The company hasn’t taken on any venture capital to date, but has relied on revenue from its app-controlled split flap signs — at use inside Honeygrow, Starbucks and Chicago’s Wrigley Field — to fuel the expansion.

“That, and the projects we’re producing on the engineering side led us to run out of space in Bensalem,” Kuhn told Technical.ly.

OCT 19

At Oat Foundry in Bensalem, makers of split-flap boards similar to the old-fashioned one announcing arriving and departing trains at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station (which Amtrak plans to remove), revenue is on a fast track. To handle even more expected expansion, the company of seven employees plans to add three to five more over the next year, said CEO Mark Kuhn., one of six founders. As engineering majors at Drexel University when they started the company five years ago, they weren’t trained on hiring, Kuhn said.

JULY 8

As the energy of HD Expo permeates throughout the Mandalay Bay convention center in Las Vegas, 800-plus exhibitors are showing off their fresh wares in show floor booth designs. These eye-catching displays of the latest and greatest the industry has to offer prove that creativity isn’t just in the field, but in the arena for our 11,000 guests to see.

“Village Station Restaurant – Road-weary travelers of every age will find something to enjoy at Village Station. The train station-inspired décor pays tribute to Sun Valley’s history as an early destination on the Union Pacific railroad line. Enjoy a wide selection of cocktails and craft beer on tap, as well as a crowd-pleasing menu of classic American favorites—hearty cheeseburgers, chicken wings, pizza and family-style salads. Four big screen televisions and ample seating make it the perfect place for your group to gather on game day. – Village Station”

FEB 28

In an attempt to end this persistent indifference, NSC launched the Prescribed to Death Memorial in November 2017. The Memorial, which includes a wall of 22,000 pills each carved with the image of someone who fatally overdosed in 2015, was on display in Washington, D.C.

As part of a partnership with the Executive Office of the President, the department of the Interior and the National Parks Service, the Ellipse in President’s Park at the White House hosted the Memorial April 12-18. NSC President and CEO Deborah Hersman addressed the media and visitors April 11.

Oat Foundry was honored to provide a Split Flap display to the exhibit. With a Split Flap, guests could add their loved ones’ name to the list of the over 22,000 honored in the memorial.

FEB 22

The nostalgic flap signs that once filled Penn Station and train stations around the world are now being brought back by a Philadelphia-based company, Oat Foundry. Specializing in “cool,” unique products for brands and businesses, the engineering design company is redesigning split flap signs for the 21st century.

AUG 25

The 700-square-foot restaurant is decorated with vintage ballpark elements like a flap display menu board. A brick-lined outdoor patio provides additional seating and a place to watch the game on flat-screen televisions.

JUL 13

Lucky Dorr includes touches like an old-school “flap” menu board to show customers what beer’s on tap. The display was designed by Oat Foundry. There are also plenty of TVs so fans can watch the game even if they don’t have a ticket.

JUN 07

Case Study: Oat Foundry, LLC, of Bensalem Pennsylvania is a self-described agency of engineers that turns its clients’ ideas into everything from mechanical tech to industrialized cold brew machines to a process that doubles packaging capacity. Regardless of what makes a project cool, Oat Foundry always makes the same promise to its clients: Build it fast. Build it well. Stand behind it.

APR 15

For some time we searched for a solution to our “order up” system—something which would replace shouting order numbers with a more delicate, “honeygrow” approach. In an effort not to over-tech our restaurants with another digital display, we opted for a split-flap display system (which used to be found at train stations all over the world)… Enter Oat Foundry—experts in the “cool stuff” field + perfect for the task of creating a decades-old signage system with the technical capabilities required in 2017.